Gaming

Bethesda Sues Over Copycat 'Westworld' Game — And It Has a Pretty Strong Case

The new 'Westworld' app looks almost identical to 'Fallout Shelter.'

Bethesda/YouTube

Back in 2015, Bethesda released a mobile game called ‘Fallout Shelter’ to promote its upcoming Fallout 4. Now the company claims that Warner Bros. is ripping off that app for its Westworld game in a new lawsuit. It may sound like another petty squabble, but after considering the facts, you’ll probably agree that Bethesda has a pretty strong case.

#The same company worked on both games

Bethesda partnered with Behaviour, a Canadian video game studio, to create Fallout Shelter, and years later, Warner Bros. tapped the same company to make its own Westworld app. So it’s possible that Behaviour could have copied and pasted some code over from one game to the other in an effort to save time and money.

That’s exactly what Bethesda claims in the lawsuit, which accuses Behaviour of a breach of contract. Specifically, the Fallout developer claims that Behaviour stole “copyrighted computer code.” The suit even points to a bug that appeared in both early versions of Fallout Shelter and this Westworld game as further evidence.

They look almost identical

Bethesda also argues that both games feature the same visual style, which it defines as “cartoonish 2D characters in a 3D environment.” This is pretty accurate, though the new Westworld game looks a little more polished. However, that’s probably due to general advances in technology in the three years since Fallout Shelter was released.

More damning is the cross-section view that both games use to show you what’s happening in large, underground facilities with multiple floors and interlocking rooms. Both games allow you to create these structures, though in Fallout Shelter that’s the main gameplay while in Westworld you’re also operating the above-ground park. Still, this doesn’t look good for Warner Bros. or Behaviour.

Still not convinced? See for yourself by comparing the trailers for the two shockingly similar games.

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